Real Madrid vs. Barcelona takeaways: Lamine Yamal shows up in El Clasico, but where was Kylian Mbappe?

Real Madrid’s run of four consecutive wins in El Clasico has come to an end following a 4-0 loss to Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. Los Blancos have now fallen six points behind their rivals in La Liga play as the Hansi Flick era at Barcelona couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. After Real Madrid had a mentally exhausting match against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League midweek, some regression was expected but not to this degree.

In the first half, it felt like Los Blancos would be the side more likely to break down Barcelona but the introduction of Frenkie de Jong at half was a masterstroke from Flick to get the game going. Real Madrid weren’t able to respond, leading to the loss, but it’s one that could send ripple effects. Here are takeaways from the match:

Lamine Yamal continues to make history

From scoring a goal that felt like it happened in slow motion to then celebrating by showing his braces to Santiago Bernabeu Lamine crowd, Yamal has the it factor but now he also has another record to his name. At 17, he became the youngest player ever to score in El Clasico. Already a key player for Barcelona and Spain, he’s got six goals and six assists on the season and he’s loving life under Hansi Flick as Barcelona are evolving back into being a true global superpower team.

Yamal isn’t even the only teenager in the squad performing, he’s just leading the charge. Pau Cubarsi had another strong performance in defense to help keep a clean sheet while four 21-year-olds started and made an impact. Xavi Hernandez helped bring these young players into the first team but Flick is pushing them forward to unlock their next levels.

Kylian Mbappe needs to keep it simple

Kylian Mbappe’s first Clasico was one to forget and not just because of the result. Mbappe took three shots, putting them all on target but none of them particularly troubled Inaki Pena in the Barcelona net. The Frenchman was unable to get into a proper flow and if he did get the ball into the back of the net, the offside flag was raised to deny him of glory. Caught offside eight times, Mbappe couldn’t adjust to Barcelona’s high line when his team needed him the most. 

Mbappe has eight goals and two assists in all competitions for Real Madrid but as a marquee signing for a team of their stature, he has to show up in the biggest games possible. Not performing in his first Clasico doesn’t mean that Mbappe won’t perform for Los Blancos, but it’s not something that can become a trend for the Frenchman. 

Barcelona are back

With his brace in the match, Lewandowski became the highest-scoring player in all of Europe’s top five leagues in all competitions netting his 17th goal to go along with two assists. Raphinha also kept his hot form going and Barcelona finished a week that also saw them defeat Bayern Munich.

This is what world-class teams do but it’s what Barcelona haven’t been able to do until recently. Flick’s tactics and the team returning to health at the right time keep Barcelona moving forward. After this victory, they even have some room for error in the league with no team proving to be more of a contender than them.